Out of the Inbox

Oftentimes, it's tough to decide where a thing should go.
To keep us from shuffling stuff around,
minimalists urge to rely on one and only one inbox.

They also advise to do, or else discard, delegate or defer.
While discarding and delegating get stuff out of the inbox,
how can deferring prevents their diminishing returns?

As long as a project is undone, some of its part will reappear.
Anything elsewhere it's supposed to be awaits in some inbox.
How to get out of the inbox, if it's anywhere we have stuff?

Many Boxes

Virtual inboxes:
Desktop, Documents, Downloads.
Buffer files to write elsewhere.
Notes for clients, old notes.
Anything anywhere to be processed.
All emails, incoming or archived.
Reader, pinboard, etc.

Real inboxes:
Desktop, paper tray, paper slips box.
Pocket briefcase, index cards box, pinboard.
Notebooks, a backpack full of them, closets.
The mailbox, other people, the answering machine.

We have many boxes.

Project or Object

Methodologists may manage material with a dichotomy between items upon which we can act, and items upon which we can't, between action material that belongs to projects, and objects orbiting around the office: references, supplies, etc. Dichotomies can only be false outside the realms of logic. Mundane matters make its falsity manifest.

User manuals may belong to the project Caring for my Stuff. Dictionaries may belong to Writing Well on the Web. Tools may belong to Having Everything for Repairs. Notes may belong to Taking Note.

Let's posit instead of this dichotomy that everything from our own existence is a project. Every object near us comes to life when a project becomes active. No object stands on its own, aside any project, be it indefinite, virtual, or promised. An object may shift from one project to the next.

Multi-faceted objects can assist in many projects. Sooner or later, most objects become multi-faceted. Even invoices: they may belong to Taxes I Deadly Need to Pay, next to Meditate about Making Money Analysis, then to Taxes I Need to Keep.

This relationship between objects and projects might explain slogans like One and Only One Place and Once and Only Once. With their dichotomy, methodologists might be idealizing the relationship between objects and projects. There is no objective way to classify objects.

An object may only be what one projects to do with it.

Write First

So you want to become a writer.  Why don't you start by writing, then?  If you love to write, write and find the joy in writing.  Never mind about what one must write.  Consider this as an abstract task: just start to write.  When the head empties itself, when preoccupations kick it, then get up and celebrate your freedom to rejoice over your life, by walking, singing, cooking, meditating.  Or just go read something.   And when on an idle, do the opposite: start by reading something.  Sit back and let yourself spectate the world of works.  You'll soon realize that when you start your day by reading, you're not really working.